Under the Black Sky
by chelseaXY
Summary: Two people from different worlds: Draco Malfoy and Grace Charles. She thought the war was over, but little did she know; there were secrets yet to be told. Draco Malfoy was once on the Dark Side. It happened 7 years ago. But some secrets, just never die.
1. Chapter 1

I looked around my upscale apartment in urgency. Moving my head swiftly from left to right, I felt my high ponytail whip loosely against my neck.

_Okay, pretty sure that's everything._

I hauled up my luggage with both arms and waddled over to the fireplace. Placing my heavy trunk into the already lit green flames, I grabbed a handful of floo powder and squeezed into the fireplace.

"Hogwarts!" I bellowed after throwing down the light glittering powder. I shut my eyes as blurred images travelled around me. Travelling through Floo Network always made me sick. Feeling my feet land gracefully on hard wood floor, I opened my eyes.

"Minerva." I flashed a smile and walked over to the respected Hogwarts Headmaster, my new boss.

"Grace! Welcome, welcome," I let the aged women pull me into a light embrace. "It's good to have you apart of our staff."

"The pleasure is all mines." I replied.

"Here, let me take you to your room." I nodded in acknowledgement and turned to let McGonagall lead me out the office doors, abandoning my luggage behind.

My name's Grace Charles and I am the new Astronomy professor here at Hogwarts. I'm very young, only twenty-two, but I'm very wise for my age. I spent my seven years of wizardry education at Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and for the five years that followed after my graduation, I spent my freedom well. And being away from my beloved France has taken its toll on me. Though I kindly accepted the gracious job offer Minerva McGonagall offered me here in Scotland, France's beauty has always fascinated me. I will miss the divine gourmet food, the classic literature, the wine and delicious cheese and most of all, I will miss my dear close friends, Casey Vale and Hilary Harp.

"Here we are," I stopped abruptly as Minerva turned into a small corridor, stopping at a lone portrait of a young woman. "Up those stairs is the Astronomy classroom." She said while pointing to another portrait at the end of the hallway. I nodded.

"Your luggage is already in your room and as soon as you're settled in, head on down for the Start of Term feast."

"Thank you Minerva." I smiled mercifully.

"You're welcome dear." She gave a light pat on my shoulder and turned to stalk down the hallway. I watched until she fully disappeared before sighing. Pulling the portrait open, I set off into my new room.

Well, this was definitely a down-grade from my apartment back home. It was kind of like a hotel suite at the Leaky Cauldron, had all the essentials of a little house. There was a small living room to the front of the room and to the top right hand corner was a kitchen. To the left, I suspected was the bedroom.

My parents were very wealthy before they died a few years back. Cause of death: unknown. Me being the only child, I was left with a lot of money.

I walked through the room and groaned. Who sleeps in a _**twin **_bed? I'll have to fix that later, same goes for all the ugly dull colors that surrounded me on the walls. I walked slowly over to my trunk and heaved it onto the bed. Opening it up, I walked over to the closet.

_You call this a closet?_

That's another thing I'm going to have to improve later. I kicked the doors to the pathetic closet in front of me. I bet I wouldn't even be able to stand in there. I'm starting to sound like a real spoiled girl, but hello? France, remember? Paris? City of fashion. I gave up on unpacking and walked to the bathroom. I starred back at the young girl in the mirror.

My facial features were very prominent. I had a sharp jaw and cheek bones. My nose was perfectly pointed and my eyes were a mixture of brown and green that popped against my thick, unusually long eyelashes. My dark, brown wavy hair, when not in a ponytail, laid just above my chest and bangs that swept feverishly to the side.

I considered myself normal. Growing up, I never had any problems with getting what I wanted. Not to sound smug or anything, but it's true. It became easy almost natural, to talk myself out of detentions when I got in trouble with my professors at Beauxbaton. Now, I knew better. I consider myself mature for my age and people seem to agree.

Though I may be into high fashion and what not, I'm also a much laid back person. One thing I enjoy most: laying outside, in the grass and just staring at the stars. And that's why I became fascinated with Astronomy. Everyday, something changes in the sky and I find that change to be interesting, curious, and thrilling. I find change to be rewarding.

This is why I took this job opportunity. Maybe something good will come out of this.

Entering to what I assumed to be the Great Hall, I let in a sharp breath. The school was as beautiful as the last time I came here during the Triwizard Tournament about eight years ago. I looked up in awe at the ceiling, starring at the beautiful constellation filled sky. Walking slowly between the house tables, I snapped out of my thoughts and began swerving out of the way of the first years. Reaching the teachers table, I gave a swift nod to McGonagall and took a seat to the one empty seat, next to a giant. No, literally. He was a giant, I'm sure of it.

As the conversations died down in the Great Hall as I observed each student, being sorted. So... they just let a hat decide what house you're in? Weird. I dozed off into a day dream in the middle of the ceremony.

"And I'd like to introduce our new Astronomy Professor, Grace Charles!" McGonagall's strict voice chimed in. I politely stood up from my seat and gave a slight nod and a wave. She went off into another speech about Quidditch, which I really didn't care for. It was a _ghastly _sport. I prefer to jog. Or maybe Pilates.

* * *

I collapsed on my, still small, bed, feeling content. Boy can they throw a good feast. I rubbed my stomach to try and soothe my full belly and hopped back up. Grabbing pajama pants and a tank-top from my open trunk, I slipped into the bathroom to change.

Walking back into my room, I dropped in the bed falling asleep the second my head hit the over-stuffed pillow.

* * *

It's dense that I have to wake up at six in the morning when I don't start lessons 'till nine o'clock in the afternoon. It's the perfect opportunity to sleep in, but no. I _must _attend breakfast.

"Suck it up Grace." I muttered, rolling off the bed landing perfectly on the hard cold floor. Grudgingly, I walked over to my trunk. Grabbing a black pencil skirt that reached down to my knees and a button up white shirt, I walked to the bathroom to change. Throwing on small heels and a thick black robe, I headed out the door.

I listened to the distant tap of my heels against the tile and drifted off. This is it. My first day of teaching. Teaching my favorite thing in the world: the night sky. I figured it wouldn't be such a hard subject to teach, as it just comes to me naturally. My youngness might rub off on the students as well. I wouldn't say I was nervous. Actually, I was ecstatic. This day. The first day of teaching Astronomy, is proof that change is happening.

Sitting down next to the giant at the head table, I grabbed some food.

"'Ello, my name es Hagrid." I was startled when a cauldron sized hand appeared in front of my face. I brought my hand onto of my chest and breathed out a warm smile.

"Nice to meet you Hagrid, I'm Grace Charles." I took the kind giants hand and awkwardly shook it. Awkward because my whole hand was about the size of his palm.

"How old are you Grace?" Hagrid's accent was thick and certain words he pronounced were hard to make out.

"Twenty-two sir." I cranked my head to look at the giant man and smiled.

"Really? Phew, you're young. I was pretty young when I started to work at Hogwarts too. You see..." I cut his voice out of my head as his words came out in a huge jumble. I was fine deciphering his accented words in short sentences, but that last one was too much work. I continued to eat, pretending to listen.

Soon the bell rang for first lesson and I rushed out of the Hall. I felt extremely... awkward. I made it back to my room in record time and set off to fix my "living quarters". Making the living room, bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen bigger, I started to add color. I put stylish dark brown furniture and light blue walls in the living room

Pastel yellow for the kitchen.

Tan for the bathroom.

And a deep deep red, with matching red and black comforters for the new king sized bed.

Satisfied with my results, especially my big walk-in closet, I began to unpack.

It was hard to make this room feel like home.

Five hours passed when I was doing my renovations and it was time for lunch. Brushing my skirt down and straightening my robe, I headed back down to the Great Hall. I appeared to be early as there were hardly any students in the Hall. I took the liberty to befriend my colleagues.

"Hello." I waved at a very strict looking woman. Her nose was sharply pointed and her face was so thin you can visibly see her cheek bone line. Her eyes were...creepy looking, really. They were a dead white with a small black circle in the middle of her irises.

"Rolanda Hooch." She said sticking her hand out sharply, causing me to jump.

"Grace Charles." I politely shook her hand. "What subject do you teach?" I asked curiously.

"I am the flying instructor and Quidditch referee." Ugh, Quidditch. Without even realizing it, I drifted off to the next closest person.

"Hi!" I exclaimed. This woman was weird looking. Her eyes looked the size of bowling balls behind the thick rimmed glasses she were. She dressed and smelled kind of funny too.

"Oh! Hello dear..." She replied, as if just noticing I was standing in front of her.

"I'm Grace Charles, Astronomy professor." I held out my hand.

"Sybil Trelawney." She took my hand, but didn't shake it. I looked into her eyes. They were distant. As if looking at something from afar. I stood there, awkwardly and waited for the old women to let go of my hand.

"Um..."

"I'm sorry dear." She pulled out of her…trance. I guess that's what you call it and reluctantly let go of my hand. I'm guessing she teaches Divination?

Moving on.

"Hello." I muttered, getting bored with all the greetings already.

"Hi deary, I'm Pomona Sprout." This woman was round in the middle and smelled strongly of…herbs.

"Hi Pomona, I'm Grace Charles."

"Well, welcome to Hogwarts hun. I hope you like it here..." She smiled. Finally! A normal person! I'm liking this Miss. Sprout. She reminded me of my mother before she died, very warm and loving. Perhaps, I'll be going to her when the going get's tuff.

Being pulled out of our conversation, my evaluation was wrong. She was nice and loving, but I'm just not _that _interested in plants. I was grateful when the bell singling for lunch rang, and we both turned to take our appointed seats at the head table.

* * *

"Hello class, I am Grace Charles, but you guys will formerly call me by, Professor Charles, or Miss. Charles. Or whatever." I looked around to the aging seventeen year olds. My first class of the year, and I have to teach _seventh years. _

"Yes?" I asked, as an olive-skinned boy raised his hand.

"Is that a _Miss. _Charles or a _Mrs. _Charles?" It took me a second to actually figure out what this boy was asking me. When I did, I was appalled that this guy was actually hitting on me.

"That would be none of your concern. Anyways..." I brushed the boy's stupid question over my shoulder and continued on with my lesson.

"So, I'm a pretty cool lady. I can be lazy and laid back at times, but remember, _**I **_am still in charge of you." I looked around the class at the individual students. By their faces they seemed pretty intrigued by me, so that helped the nerves a little.

Getting into a full discussion about the lesson plan for this term, I found class ending too quickly.

I stayed after, waiting till every student filed out the room. Once the room was clear of adolescent teens, I walked over to the edge of the Astronomy tower. Peering up at the moon, I smiled.

The moon is such a beautiful thing. It's like the sun, only at night, controlling and overpowering everything in its splendor. My eyes shut closed as a short gush of wind pushed around my face. I felt my knees buckle and I turned. Leaning against the inside wall, I slid all the way down to be seated on the floor.

I wasn't feeling anything. Nothing. No emotion. Nada. My eyes opened again and I leaned my head back, staring at the stars this time. What if there was a star for every person in the world? Or what if you were the moon and every star that surrounded you were people that would compete for your attention. That's quite a lot of admirers. But how would you know who's the right one?

I've contemplated this for practically my whole life. My friends, Casey and Hilary, constantly usher me to go out and date, but I'm just not into it. Oh, I've been on my fair share of dates and I've had quite amount of boyfriends, but none of them were _**the one. **_But is there such a thing as _the one? _Maybe there is. Maybe there's just one star that shines brighter than the rest. A star that catches the beam of the moon.

I feel like I need to find that right one now, instead of waiting for it to find me. From what I hear, love is the greatest emotion, the greatest feeling and I find my self anticipating feeling like that. I just want to look into a guy's eyes and determine whether they're the right one or not. I'd know. I'd know because once I looked into his eyes, I would know in an instant that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.

That seemed less than likely to happen.


	2. Chapter 2

Three days have passed and I miss France. I'm not saying that the days here at Hogwarts was absolutely dreadful, I've actually been having some sort of fun, but I miss going out and partying with my friends. I feel this heavy load of responsibility on my shoulders and I know I can handle it, but sometimes I just want to loosen up and have fun. And that's when I would go back up to the Astronomy Tower.

I was hit on by about, oh maybe ten times, by several seventh years. I usually ignored them or docked a couple of points. It made me feel pretty, that's for sure. Other than that, the students were catching on very quickly to the constellations. It was shocking. I didn't know how they were learning so rapidly.

I eventually met most of my fellow co-workers and they're all too old for my taste. The conversations would be dull and boring and I found myself drifting off into a dream land often. The one professor I found interesting was Septima Vector, the Arithmancy teacher. She had an intriguing subject to teach and I found it oddly fascinating. The whole concept of the subject was confusing and it made me want to know more every time I would run into the professor. Hagrid was another professor I enjoyed talking to. He had a heart of gold and it often rubbed off on the people around him. But things were getting boring. Hastily.

I was walking on the long narrow bridge that lead to the castle, coming back from a small visit with Hagrid Thursday morning. I walked with small steps, moving as far as my tight pencil skirt could allow me as the heels of my shoes tapped noisily against the aged wood. Taking a quick glance behind me, I saw objects moving, far away in the sky. Coming to an abrupt stop, I fully turned around to face the strange objects. Squinting as hard as I could, I made out the silhouettes of young students on brooms. Ah, Quidditch. Not interested anymore, I turned quickly and smacked right into someone. Letting out a low grunt I dropped my students essay papers and held onto the ledge for support.

"I'm very sorry." I looked at the dull person that ran into me as he squatted on the floor, picking up my papers.

"Yeah." I let him continue picking up my parchments while I held my head. Everything started to spin from the hard impact.

"Here" I stepped out from the dizziness and looked up to the man.

"Thank you." I murmured, taking the papers gradually out of his hands.

"No problem." I looked at the gentleman's face. His facade was chiseled into perfection. If that was even possible. His nose was piercingly pointed, and his jaw was very sharp. His lips were pink and plush and stood out against his rather pale skin. His eyes were a blue-grey and blonde hair grazed over his forehead, leaving some hairs to fall into his eyes.

Awkwardly, I stepped to the side and started to walk away.

"Hey hey, wait now." I sighed, but reluctantly stopped, not bothering to turn around.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Do you work here?" His perfect face came into my view as he stepped in front of me.

"Yes." I repeated.

"Really, I've never seen you here before." I rolled my eyes in annoyance.

"That's because I'm new." I felt his eyes studying my face and I looked away, staring out at the view to my right.

"I'm Draco. Draco Malfoy." I turned my attention to him once more.

"Grace Charles." I kindly accepted his hand and shook it.

"Grace…" He acknowledged with a nod.

"I'm sorry; do you work here or something?" I was getting a little annoyed with his presence.

"Part-time."

"For…?"

"I'm the Quidditch trainer for the Slytherin House, but I play professional for England." He boasted.

"Ahh." I muttered. Quidditch stinks. Turning quickly, I began to descend back over the bridge.

"Hey wait." I groaned inwardly and turned around.

"Do you not like Quidditch?" He asked with his eyebrows raised.

"I hate Quidditch." I confirmed plainly.

"You're crazy." I scoffed at this rude 'Draco Malfoy' and turned back around, storming back to the castle.

"See you around _Grace Charles_!" He called after me. I ignored him and kept walking.

* * *

"Turn your telescopes 30 degrees to the right and point it two inches to the left from the moon." I waited as the students adjusted their telescopes.

"What star do you see?" I smiled as several hands shot up to answer my question. These kids are catching on fast.

"Mrs. Carey?"

"The Reagan star professor?" I nodded in approval.

"Very good." Suddenly, the bell rang, signaling for class to be dismissed. I sniggered to myself as a few students groaned.

"Okay you guys don't forget the essay that's due tomorrow!" I bellowed as the students slowly started to file out the class.

Once every student scurried out of sight, I did what I always did after I had the class room to myself. Bringing over a small chair and a blanket, I set it out on the balcony. Taking a seat and tossing the blanket over myself, I stared up into the black sky. Studying the moon for a while, I looked over to the many stars.

That's when I saw it. The star that I've never noticed there before. This star was hard to miss though. It was illuminated in a bright glow, a glow that complimented the moon. I sighed and closed my eyes once more. I felt my mind pull away from the present as I fell asleep under the night sky.

* * *

"Good morning Grace." I smiled at McGonagall.

"Morning Minerva." What a cheerful Friday morning. I gave a polite nod and looked at the head table. I noticed the same blonde boy that I ran into the day before. Draco, was it? He was seated next to Madame Hooch, and it looked as though they both were engaged in a deep conversation. Probably about _Quidditch. _Taking my regular seat next to Rubeus, I grabbed a bread roll.

I slowly picked off a couple pieces with my fingers and fed them into my mouth. Hearing the screech of owls made me give a small jump. I settled down, as a couple letters fell my way. Putting down my half eaten bread roll, I picked up the first letter and began to hurriedly open it.

_Grace,_

_Hey hun, how are you? How's Hogwarts? I bet the students there are as annoying as when we went there for the Tournament. I miss you terribly. Seriously, every time I look out the window at night, I think of you and how all those nights you pointed out which stars were which. I hardly remember any of them. It's not really a shocker that I failed Astronomy. Tonight, we should do something. Get you away from work and just __**hang. **__Go to a couple bars with the girls? Let me know hun. _

_Miss you, Casey._

I sucked in a deep breath and let it out. I need a good hanging out with my friends. Putting that letter in my robe pocket, I made a mental note to reply to her later. Picking up the second letter, I opened it curiously.

_Grace,_

_Hey it's Shaun. I haven't spoken to you in awhile. I heard you're working at Hogwarts now as the Astronomy professor? Figured you'd end up teaching your passion. Well, I just wanted to see how you've been doing. Write back._

_Shaun_

In case you're confused, Shaun was my ex-boyfriend. One of the many guys that were never _the one. _Why he's writing to me now? He's wanted to get back with me for some time now, but I guess he just doesn't take denial to the head. I made a mental note _**not **_to reply to him later.

The bell to first lesson snapped me out of my thoughts. I picked up my unfinished bread roll, and pushed back my seat with an angry force to stand up. I heard a loud "_Oomph!" _from behind me.

"I'm so sorry!" I alleged and turned to help the poor person up from the ground. Grabbing the arm of the bloke, I pulled him up to his feet. Draco. Ugh.

"How come every time I run into you, someone gets hurt?" He muttered harshly, rubbing his thigh.

"You shouldn't have been behind me." I said, defending myself.

"Right, I'll keep that in mind next time…" He scoffed and wobbled down from the platform. Once he was out of ear shot, I silently chuckled.


End file.
